How do you know if you need a Virtual Assistant?

A Virtual Assistant can be much more than someone you hire to delegate mundane tasks to, they can actually be a strong asset for your business.

First off, let's lay out what a Virtual Assistant is. Being one myself, I still sometimes get baffled at how few people have a real solid understanding of the title. I believe it's simply because it's incredibly vague compared to all the things that a Virtual Assistant is capable of.

A lot of Virtual Assistants have preferred to focus on one particular task and they work on perfecting it, absolutely making them desirable and efficient in achieving their clients' goals. In our industry, it's called 'niching down' and a Virtual Assistant usually picks their niche based on what they enjoy the most or have the most experience in doing.

That can look like many different things. Some VAs are solely administrative assistants, which means they book appointments, manage calendars and email accounts, etc. Others can be Instagram gurus, or SEO wizards.

At the end of the day, most flourishing businesses have at least one Virtual Assistant taking care of ongoing tasks for business owners. Which leads me to the VAs who don't niche down, the Jack (and Jill) of all Trades, as I've heard them called.

The main difference is that with a VA who has selected a niche, you are working with someone who considers themselves an expert in a given task, as they only work with that platform or method and they have ongoing experience.

A Virtual Assistant who prefers not to choose a niche is determined to find solutions to various issues, has a great desire to learn new things and can be useful when you want to achieve business goals that are in separate projects.

I can only speak to one of these personally, as I have avoided niching down because I simply love doing different things and learning something new each day.

But I'd love to give some examples of tasks I've worked on for clients to showcase exactly what we're able to bring to the table:

1. I helped work on proposals for a writing & research coach where I designed graphics and proofread content.

2. I've assisted numerous clients in different coaching industries to update and publish their blogs + newsletters

3. For some clients I've managed and organized calendars, inboxes and file sharing drives

4. In addition to designing social media content, I've planned and scheduled the content on various platforms

The list goes on and on.

So now to the point, now that you have a better idea what a Virtual Assistant can do, it's time to go over how to know if connecting with a VA is what's right for you and your business.

I have a simple three question formula to help you.

There's another important question also and that is whether you have the financial capacity to bring a contractor into the mix. It's not enough to decide that you have goals that would be more efficiently met by bringing in a Virtual Assistant, you need to evaluate whether you can invest in the time those goals will take without it breaking the bank.

What's my suggestion?

Do a brain dump. Get all the ideas, thoughts and mental checklists out onto paper. Create a separate list of the items that only you can do within your business. With everything that's left, divide those to-do items and ideas into what you'd like to see accomplished in three months and then longer term.

From there, look at networking with Virtual Assistants. Even get referrals from other business owners. What do I think is most important? 100% - finding someone who you connect with that is willing to get invested in your business. That means someone who cares about your growth, about how they can contribute to that growth. Then start having conversations. Most of us Virtual Assistants offer free consultation or discovery calls, so you can get a good feel for the relationship.

Any questions? Feel free to reach out to me and, of course, you can also book a free call if you'd like to chat about your to-do list and how I can help.